User blog:Monkey Doctor 33/Does a Patriot Know Fear? Senator Armstrong vs Man-Thing!
Hey folks, it's MD 33 here, bringing you another battle for my fifth season. Season Five has kicked off fairly well with Kilowog vs Firelord, and I promised y'all to have Dante Alighieri of Dante's Inferno fighting Mother Talzin from Star Wars. Unfortunately, due to how differing their stats are and the fact that I can't figure out how those two warriors can beat each other, I've decided to pick another battle to do. And finally, here we are, having yet another unrelated battle but a rather interesting one! Here, we have Senator Armstrong, the nanomachine-infused politician bent on revolutionizing the United States to bring it into even greater heights! With his nanomachines, he has fought certain cyborgs using his superhuman body to a standstill. But, can he defeat an abominable swamp-man that has fought some of the Marvel Universe's strongest monsters? Presenting for the first time, Man-Thing, a former scientist turned into a muck-filled swamp creature, becoming the Guardian of the Nexus of Realities itself! Now, without further ado, let us get into the battle! Senator Armstrong, the warmongering Senator of Colorado and presidential candidate, intending to re-establish America as a true country of freedom for everyone to wage their own wars! VS Man-Thing, Marvel's own swamp monster and Guardian of the Everglades' Nexus of Realities with the infamous burning touch reserved for those who knows fear! In this battle between, uh, machine and nature... Who is DEADLIEST? Warrior Information Senator Armstrong Steven Armstrong is the main antagonist of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. A United States Senator for Colorado, Senator Steven Armstrong is one of the presidential candidates for the nation's elections in 2020. A former football player, Steven enlisted within the United States Navy despite his lack of true combat. Soon, he becomes a politician and embarks on a quest to re-orchestrate the war economy. Tying himself with the World Marshal Incorporated and recruiting four dangerous cyborgs, he begins his mission to reclaim the American Dream. However, he is later opposed by another cyborg, Raiden, fighting him on top of a Metal Gear unit. Although defeated, Armstrong's plan succeeded and the World Marshal Inc. still thrives. Man-Thing Theodore Sallis, better known as the Man-Thing, is a character created by Marvel Comics. A former biochemist, Sallis was part of a team of scientists that intended to create the next version of Captain America's Super-Soldier Serum. However, the terrorist group, AIM, managed to find out of his work through an agent of theirs and Sallis' wife as well as one of the scientists in his team, Ellen Brandt. Ambushed by AIM, he injected himself with the only sample of serum he had. However, he crashed into a swamp soon. Transformed into a being of muck, ooze, and plants by both the serum and the swamp's mystical forces, Ted Sallis is now the Man-Thing, Guardian of the Nexus of Realities and an ally to heroes and their monster counterparts, as well. Powers and Abilities Senator Armstrong Superhuman Strength= The nanomachines within Steven's body enhances his body to superhuman levels. With such infusion comes his immense strength. I can safely confirm that he's a Class 100, scaling from his fight with the ridiculously-overpowered Raiden. Not truly overpowered but you get what I mean. Capable of fighting cyborgs like Raiden and Jetstream Sam, Armstrong's strength is definitely the most terrifying thing he has in store. Aside from that, he can also power up his strength by generating a fiery aura that allows him to create large explosions via ground pounds and charging at his targets. Note: Assuming you know of Raiden's feats, carry on. *Throws away Raiden a great distance away. *By rapidly punching Raiden, he deals a great amount of damage on the cyborg. *Blows up Metal Gear EXCELSUS by punching it hard enough. He dented the missile-resistant hulls of the unit previously, but this one's a giant punch that gives you an idea of how powerful his striking is. And don't underestimate the EXCELSUS. That thing's weakness may not be nuclear, but that thing and its kind are created to survive nuclear wars. *Severely weakens Raiden's chest plate by stomping on it multiple times. *Heats up Raiden's chin/half-mouth plate by simply punching him a distance away. *Overpowers Raiden with one hand without even being enraged. *Punched away Jetstream Sam casually in the gut, prompting him to grunt in pain. *Throws a considerably big part of the EXCELSUS at Raiden with little effort. |-| Superhuman Durability= You see that blade of Sam's failing to penetrate his nanomachines? Yeah, that blade of his is the Muramasa Blade, a variant of the HF Blade, which can cut through molecular bonds. Molecular bonds. Those blades are basically Marvel's antarctic vibranium (anti-metal). Granted, it did cut him eventually, but he tanked a lot, and I mean a LOT of blows from it. The nanomachines that protect Armstrong's innards are strong, but they do have a weakness. The nanomachines can react to a single form of damage such as those of the cyborgs' blades. But the moment they switch up their attack method within an attosecond, those machines ain't gonna react fast enough to absorb that new attack. Such example was when Armstrong got briefly overpowered by Raiden's fists. The nanomachines fail to keep Armstrong in resisting damage when it's quick. What does that mean? Armstrong's core weakness is in the enemy's attack speed. The faster it goes, the weaker the nanomachines are in resisting it. *Stood up almost unfazed against a barrage of punches from Raiden. Granted, he shook up in an erratic manner, but in the end the damage done to him was minimal despite the said weakening against fast attacks. *Took Jetstream Sam's Muramasa Blade right to the head, and absolutely no damage was done. *Rocket launchers like the FIM-92 and the LAG-2 (this one can stop an APC dead on its tracks) barely deal any damage to him. *Can still speak briefly even though Jack ripped out his heart. *Parried both the Muramasa and the HF Blades casually with no apparent damage. |-| Superhuman Speed= The nanomachines also increases Armstrong's speed, but not to the point that he's as fast as the Flash. Still, he's very fast and can keep up with cyborgs that have a speed rating of supersonic. Combined with his strength, Armstrong is probably one of the most terrifying mortal, non-magic warriors this wiki can have. *Kept up with both Jetstream Sam and Raiden's supersonic combat speed. *This is how fast he can punch. |-| Regeneration= Not really a regeneration feat, but you get the idea. In case Armstrong gets a limb or two dismembered, he can just reattach them. In case he gets injured, the nanomachines can speed up his healing but not to the point of Wolverine's regeneration. Admittedly, his regeneration feats are nearly non-existent, but it is stated that he can heal faster; it's just not fast. |-|Magnetokinesis= Sounds like a cool ability, right? Yeah, it is. This one basically endows the politician with the power of everyone's favourite mutant terrorist, X-Man, or whatever the heck he is now. Problem? This power only comes in handy when he powers up, so his magnetokinesis is limited. Also another problem is that this ability really won't work in-battle, considering that it'll be set in Man-Thing's Swamp (more on that later). Man-Thing Note: This section will discount his teleportation, since it'll be mostly useless against Armstrong anyway. It is still usable, though. Superhuman Strength= Imbued with Captain America's Super-Soldier strength and the mystical forces the Nexus of Realities, Man-Thing possesses strength above most minor superhumans. Admittedly, he's not much of a Class 100, but he has the strength to prove that he's more than enough to take them on. Initially portrayed with strength only slightly higher than the Captain himself, Man-Thing gradually becomes one of those Marvel characters that has a sudden surge in strength like Luke Cage, the Thing, and Spider-Man. Now, he comfortably seats at Class 80 and can fight even the toughest of villains. *Ripped off Psycho-Man's arm while throwing him away. Psycho-Man is all but Class 2 (Cap's strength level) in terms of might, but it's impressive knowing of what Man-Thing does to lesser superhumans. *Crushed the head of a demon with ease. Yes, demons are also Class 2. *Overpowered Ka-Zar. This time, Ka-Zar's simply a peak human hero. *Held the Hulk down with the help of the Glob (a villain), suffocating and knocking him out. What happened to the Glob later on? He beat him within one shot by tearing him apart. *Tore a man in half and snapped the neck of two Hydra Agents, one within each hands. *Exchanged blows with the Hulk evenly. *Snatched the Cosmic Cube away from a being as strong as Captain America himself. *Uprooted a demonic tree and crushed it. *Hurled a tree to an electric demon and killed it. *Staggered D'Spayre with a simple punch. D'Spayre is a being much more powerful than Man-Thing himself and he's basically someone comparable to Dormammu (the Dr. Strange villain). Granted, he's not that strong but basically he's a higher-dimensional being. *Tore apart a steel space-ship. *Knocked back Spider-Man, knocked down the Hulk, and swiped Iron Man aside. *Concrete wall couldn't stop his smash. *Smashed through a boat from beneath. |-| Superhuman Durability= Like his strength, Man-Thing possesses durability on a superhuman level. Problem? While his durability is promisingly tough, he can't tank on every attacks hurled at him. If he's shot by bullets, muck and ooze will come out of him. If he's stuck in a fiery trap, his body will still boil even though he survives. Hell, he can't even take on the punch of Classic Thing who at the time of fighting him has Class 5 level of strength. So, how does he cope with all those extensive damage he suffer? It's simple: he feels no pain, and his body simply lets the blow get through without doing anything much to him. Yep, when the Thing punched him, it simply went through without even giving a seizure at Man-Thing. But nevertheless, his pure durability is still good, even though he can't take everything. Durability *Held off an entire barrage of gunfire before having a car crash straight to his chest. Results? Not even the bullets went through him. He basically stood still the entire time with no damage. *After being thrown an incredible distance away, he didn't splatter and he took the impact straight away with no signs of discomfort or pain. He went through these kinds of throws and falls multiple times with the same results. *A grenade exploded in front of him. No damage was done and only the attacker blew up. *A cannonball couldn't penetrate him. *Took on direct hits from the Hulk's punches. *Tanked a continuous blast of laser without penetrating his body. Only small amount of matter came out of his body and he ended up walking through it and destroying the laser gun. *Ghost Rider's Hellfire dealt no damage to him. *Bombs similar to those of the Green Goblin's blew up, Man-Thing blocked it and in the end nothing happened to the swamp monster. Phasing *The Thing's punch simply went through him. Afterwards, he doubted if he's even alive or not. Spoiler alert: he's not both. *Axes passed through him. *Gladiator's (no, not the Imperial Guardsman) buzzsaws slashed him horizontally, and what he got was only muck on his saws. Knowing this, he said that Man-Thing can't die. And to this day, that stands true. *A battering ram went through him. In the panel, it was said that he felt pain. But that's quite crap, if I say so. Sallis lost all his humanity when he turned into the Man-Thing, and that included his pain receptors. Still, the immediate result was him pulling the ram back and throwing it at the two foolish guys ramming at him. *Slid through prison bars. *Nets couldn't hold him because he simply phased through them. *The X-Man, Beast, accidentally got trapped in Sallis' body after trying to kick him away. |-| Superhuman Speed= No doubt, Man-Thing isn't all about speed. He is outright slow and he can't move even as fast as Captain America. However, he's never been too slow in combat and can be surprisingly fast against unsuspecting enemies. He is faster underwater, though. Land *Rushed up a group of spirits before they could even react. *Overwhelmed a group of soldiers without them even grasping of what the hell just happened. One soldier did see him in a distance and threw a grenade, but it passed through him and the Man-Thing simply burned the fearful man. *Surprised a group of hunters by rushing at them at breakneck speeds. *Outraced a group of HAMMER Agents riding Goblin Gliders. These gliders can keep up with Spider-Man himself, since their model is basically the same as Norman's own. *Caught a falling baby, and a falling man on different occasions. *Dodged a blast of fire from a demon. *Punched off a motorcycle that's circling him. *Caught hold of an airplane mid-flight. *Managed to uproot a tree fast enough that Doctor Strange couldn't react to him. He uprooted the tree and whacked the Sorcerer Supreme away before he could even fly far away from him. Water *Intercepted a lizard monster and killed it. *Rose up from quicksand. *Swam quickly and gracefully in swamp waters. Literally, this thing's an olympic swimmer. *Smashed through the bottom of a wooden boat, rising from the water in a surprising manner. |-| Regeneration= Man-Thing's regenerative ability is somewhat questionable. At times, he can regenerate naturally by itself. But at times, he can only regenerate by drawing upon nearby vegetative/swamp matter. For this battle, it will be the latter. Still, in both instances the Man-Thing can regenerate really fast but not on par on Wolverine. But what makes the regeneration so special is that depending on the matter, its speed can increase and he's basically unkillable through this. *Rose from a muck after being obliterated by a bulldozer. *Regenerated quickly after Cyclops blasted him with his optic blast. *Recovered his face after it was burned off. *A shotgun to the face simply impaired his vision before regenerating. *Reformed after being sliced apart by a propeller. *Bullet holes are regularly regrown. *After being cut to pieces by a mystical blade, Man-Thing could still fight the attacker. *His body was obliterated by a Celestial (yes, one of those space gods) incinerating him, but he still could regenerate. However, this is no wound capable of being healed within seconds. He healed over a considerable amount of time, and this feat simply shows us of how great his survivability is. *Still stood after getting his head and arms blown off. |-| Chlorokinesis= While not as good as his DC counterpart, Man-Thing can use the power to manipulate plants for multiple purposes. From generating wings to pulling off a Mr. Fantastic, versatility is within this power of the Man-Thing's. If the (scared) target even touches one of these generated plants, he/she will still burn. *Destroyed a bunch of construction vehicles by wrapping them around giant vines. *Grabbed Angel out of the air. *Grew wings and flew fast enough to match the Silver Surfer's speed. Remember what I said about the Silver Surfer in the last post? *Hid himself within the ground and sprung up to trap a man. *Extended his arm. *Formed into a wall to block a horseman. *Detached his mass to clog up a chimney. |-| Limited Telepathy= Man-Thing's telepathy doesn't work like those of Professor X's or Martian Manhunter's. He can't really affect the minds of other beings and corrupt or attack them like most telepaths depicted in fiction, but he uses his telepathy to sense what evil is within the person's mind. Taking advantage of this, Man-Thing can also mimic the person's current state and even induce fear within them! He is extremely sensitive towards emotion, and negative emotions can trigger him to secrete a type of acid so powerful it harms people with superhuman durability. He can also speak telepathically, but only if he wants to. *Using his mind, he managed to see through the disguises of multiple demons posing as heroes. This was done by sensing their emotions. *Sensed an infant's fear and when it cooled off. *Detected a good man's terror and saved him. *When Gladiator stopped being afraid of him, he stopped his onslaught. However, that doesn't mean he can't fight the initially-fearless Armstrong here. Before so, he terrified Gladiator and paralyzed him. *Felt the desperation of a group of people. *Could even feel pain and fear on a global scale. *Terrified the omnipotent Molecule Man. *Prompted the Thing to be scared of losing his name to Man-Thing himself. *Acting as some sort of mini-Penance Stare, Man-Thing relieved the most horrific experience a criminal has ever had. This terrified him and allowed him to burn the criminal down. *Understood that a friend's in danger. *Sensed Franklin Richards' power. Just as he sensed Molecule Man's, he could sense the reality-warping power of Mr. Fantastic's son. |-| Fear Touch= Whatever knows fear burns at the touch... of the Man-Thing! Sorry, but I think that's really necessary to add here. The most iconic ability Man-Thing has. Heck, this might even be one of the most iconic abilities Marvel has ever made. This ability is the most effective way for Man-Thing to take down unwanted subjects. Though "taking down" here mostly means killing them. Villains and criminals beware, for if you even have the slightest sense of fear within you, the Man-Thing will burn you. For most part, the Fear Touch actually ignores the durability of a person and outright burns them using what Marvel once actually called holy fire. The fire will inflict a great amount of pain, no matter what kind of durability you have even if you're the Hulk. Hell, his Fear Touch is so potent that reality-warpers like the Molecule Man was even affected! *Knowing of the Hulk's mental problems, the Man-Thing took advantage of his hidden inner fear and burned him using his touch. Thing is, the Hulk still lived to this day so you get the idea. *Burned straight through a man's heart. *Burned D'Spayre (remember him?). *A flame demon was incinerated by him when he felt fear. Yes, no matter what you are, no matter what you're made off, you will still burn. *Burned the Molecule Man so bad his power waned. *Incinerated a group of undead ninjas. They may not show fear, but remember, even the slightest fear will get you burned. *When he felt so much fear across the globe, his flames burned so hot that it incinerated New York City. *If Man-Thing himself somehow get scared, he'll burn himself. This won't happen, though. X-Factors *Man-Thing snatches the edge of experience away from Steven. Armstrong is definitely an experienced man in his own rights. His fights with the cyborgs Jetstream Sam and Raiden are definitely tough and awesome, but he barely won both of them. In fact, he lost to Raiden and Sam technically won against him. Before becoming a cyborg, he's a member of the US Navy. Problem? He didn't get to see any action. Man-Thing, on the other hand, has faced both mystical threats within his own comic books and famous superheroes and supervillains the Marvel Universe has to offer. From the other Thing, the Hulk, Iron Man, to even omnipotents such as Owen Reece, the Molecule Man. Not to mention that he has worked with the Punisher (yes, him), the Legion of Monsters, the Howling Commandos, and the Thunderbolts. *Intelligence utterly goes to Steven Armstrong. If Sallis' mind still exists within the Man-Thing canonically, he'll easily take the edge for being a world-class scientist whose work is even hunted by AIM. However, we all know that's not true here. Man-Thing has your own basic consciousness kind of thingie. He knows what a child is, he knows how to flip the switch of a self-destruct button, and how to smack away irrelevant bitches like Iron Man. But simply put, Armstrong is a full-on smart guy. He's no scientist, but he retains his full intellect unlike Man-Thing's muck brain. Plus, he knows how to use his abilities to the fullest so yeah. Not saying that Man-Thing doesn't know how to use his powers. He just doesn't use all of 'em as often as Armstrong does with his NANOMACHINES, SON. Plus, Steven is one hell of a tactician, that is. *Once again, the senator takes the edge. Man-Thing isn't necessarily brutal nor merciful, as he simply knows what to do when a bad guy comes within his range. He has no mercy in burning scared people, but most of these burnt people are bad guys. One such example is during Dark Reign when he simply burned a group off HAMMER Henchmen working for Norman Osborn who has just seen him. Hell, Man-Thing doesn't even know they're bad people and he just straight-up burned them! That however, happened because he saw those guys chasing his buddies, the Moloids. Aside from that, Armstrong is outright bloodthirsty and will do anything to kill his opponents, no compromise. I mean, look at how he handled Raiden, for Heaven's sake! *The Nexus' Guardian gets yet another edge in endurance. It's tough to bring down the nanomachine body of the senator for both of our beloved Class 100 cyborgs, but Man-Thing has the greater survivability here. With the ability to regenerate his body indefinitely no matter the duration from the Nexus while also being able to recover broken parts by simply using vegetables, Man-Thing definitely needs more than a building-leveling punch to bring him down. *The final edge is taken by the senator. Easy win here, Armstrong is a trained member of the US Navy and has official soldier training embedded within his brain. Man-Thing, pre-death and post-death, has no training whatsoever and relies on his superhuman powers whatsoever. Battles with other superhumans like Hulk are something, but most of these guys don't know how to fight, either. Ka-Zar is an exception but he's quickly overwhelmed by his strength. Sallis also mostly takes advantage of his scary appearance and outright burns the villains that see him, ending the "battle" quickly. Notes *Voting ends on the 25th of March, 2018. *You know what votes I want. *It isn't impossible: Armstrong can beat Man-Thing. Steven may be not invulnerable to fear, but beating up Man-Thing's consciousness to the point of knocking him out is possible. With that said, Armstrong's winning condition here is by knocking out the Man-Thing, while Man-Thing's is basically either by knocking him out, then burning his ass to death. Or, at least just knock him out of his swamp. Regeneration is one thing, mainly for Man-Thing, but victory isn't always by death. *Armstrong will start fully charged. *Battle takes place in Man-Thing's Swamp. Home field advantage, you say? Nay. Believe it or not, the only advantage Man-Thing has going for him there is the many vegetations there that allow him to recover discarded limbs that Armstrong may tear apart (although he can regenerate normally). Teleportation is one thing for him to use there, but these guys are not stealthy warriors so direct combat is the only option here. Battle Citrusville, Florida An armored truck is seen driving on a road leading to Citrusville. Inside, Steven Armstrong is sitting on the back, looking bored as ever. He participated in a hot debate this morning, sat in an uninteresting meeting with the World Marshal Incorporated, and recruited a cyborg to his cause. His nanomachines grants him increased stamina, but it doesn't grant him superhuman resistance to bullshit. After he had recruited Mister Sam, he received a phone call from a contact in Florida who claimed to have discovered the death of one of Armstrong's cronies. Armstrong didn't expect such interference and wanted to just end the day with a long nap. Even though he doesn't need it, he knows not of what to do next. Gazing out to the window, Armstrong remains silent until the person next to him strikes up a conversation. "So boss, whaddaya think killed that little guy?" "At this point, I'm still inclined to disbelieve what she said, Sundowner." The man beside him is revealed to be Sundowner, the leader of Armstrong's personal hit-squad. Armstrong replies his question while still looking out the window. "If Raiden killed Monsoon..." "Not even possible. That bastard ain't got no business in the Everglades!" Armstrong says, now turning away from the window and to the front. "Or has your new guy gone rogue? Sam doesn't seem to be following your shit." Sundowner states, folding his big arms, covered by his equally large trench coat. "Still no reason to be in the Everglades. I just wanna see his corpse and continue his crap tomorrow. I have more stuffs to deal with." "Whatever you say, boss." A brief moment of silence follows, and Armstrong thinks of who killed Monsoon. His Winds of Destruction are all more than a match for both Raiden and Sam. And aside from that green giant who bothered him a week ago, he has no idea. For a record, much of his shady stuffs are shielded by "trusty" people. Nevertheless, he stays silent and waits for the journey to end. - Finally entering the town, Armstrong and Sundowner exit the truck. To their surprise, there's no one in town except a group of soldiers affiliated to the Senator himself Seeing this, Armstrong comments, "Well boys, what did I miss?" A cyborg steps forward and informs him, "We have secured the entire town and ordered the civilians to stay inside. There's no one here to see us." "Nice to know, hoss. But our holy crusader here needs to know why the fuck did the little guy die." Sundowner responds bluntly. Armstrong whispers a little curse to Sundowner and speaks with them. "Fuck off. So, where's Mistral?" Armstrong's request is responded by the female cyborg herself showing up, jumping literally out of nowhere to Armstrong's presence. "Here I am, Monsieur Armstrong." "Cut the shit, Mistral. Tell me what happened." Mistral answers Armstrong's statement while circling around him in a suggestive manner. Armstrong simply sighs in disappointment. "You see, Monsoon was trying to take a day off and decided that an idyllic town like this would be the best spot to hang around. Well, let's just say he didn't heed the locals' warning." "Warning?" Confused, he briefly turns to Mistral before looking at Sundowner, who shrugs. He can't believe that one of his toughest cyborgs died only because he, well, he doesn't really know but, maybe falling off a cliff? "The locals here, even the police, believe in this bestioles they call the Homme-Chose." Mistral says. "I'm not a fucking linguist, Mistral. Did Raiden fuck your CPU in Abkhazia?" "Heh, I enjoy toying around, Armstrong. But sometimes, there are things you just don't want to confront. Still, if you want to know who this Homme-Chose is, it's better for you to look at those SHIELD files you hacked." "We only have the files on those Halloween folks back in Avengers Tower, sister. We ain't got no folders or files on the supernatural, or any of that shit." "Then what if I mention... the Man-Thing?" Mistral's statement attracts Armstrong's attention. "Man-Thing? Seriously? It's called the Man-Thing?" Armstrong says with disbelieve. "Come with me." Mistral beckons. Armstrong and Sundowner follow her while the Senator's soldiers go another way, heading to one of their own trucks. - Approaching the Everglades, Armstrong sees the stinky swamp in front of him and guesses, "This is where the Man-Thing lives?" "Surprisingly, yes, mon ami. The Man-Thing is known by the locals to be the protector of what they call the Nexus of All Realities. Or, if you want less crap, he simply protects the swamp." "So Monsoon somehow had a swamp fetish and entered the Everglades, where he was fucked by a muck monster?" "Exactly." Mistral proceeds to snap her fingers and two soldiers carrying a body bag are summoned. Armstrong sees it with relative calmness, knowing what's inside. "Lemme guess, he was torn apart?" Mistral chuckles to Armstrong's guess. "If I told you, whoever knows fear, burns at the touch of... the '''Man-Thing?" Mistral states while doing amateur gestures seemingly done to scare Armstrong. The Senator sighs in embarassment and responds. "You really believe in that shit? I thought you didn't fuck with marijuana in Algeria." "Trust me, Senator. I know what I'm talking about. And if you think he simply died of fire, you should take a look yourself." Hearing her, Armstrong looks at Sundowner, who confidently says, "Your call, boss." Armstrong opens it, revealing what's inside. When he sees the corpse, he just can't believe that he simply died out of being burned. Monsoon's corpse is somewhat mangled, with his remaining organic parts forcibly fused with his machines while having burn marks. His lower body turned to ash, and his arms are literally reduced to stick-like protrusions. Even Sundowner is somewhat unsettled by this. Armstrong takes keen interest and examines the corpse for a while. "Tell me, have you ever done something like this?" Armstrong's question is replied by Sundowner. "We mangle corpses, but never like this." "Surprisingly true, Sundowner." Armstrong continues examining the destroyed body and observes Monsoon's wrecked head. His jaws, while damaged, were still somewhat intact. Seeing this, Armstrong focuses his attention on it and found out something bizarre. "Say, Mistral, did you say that this Man-Thing guy burns people if they're scared?" "Even if you have the slightest hint of fear, yes." Knowing this, Armstrong thinks that this Man-Thing is a formidable opponent even for Monsoon, or an enduring one even. Monsoon has many weapons of mass destruction within him and can take on Mr. Jack himself, but losing to this Man-Thing and eventually getting scared of him is something. "So, what do we do, boss?" Sundowner asks while shrugging. Armstrong stands and looks to him and Mistral. He smiles, confusing the two cyborgs who look at each other. He raises his glasses and takes off his blue suit. Seeing this, Sundowner responds. "You're going after him, are you?" "I'm no Avenger, but I sure as hell am gonna make that bastard pay. Now, where's that EXCELSUS Battery you got..." - Deep within the Everglades, the inhabitants of the swamps are eerily silent as the presence of the Man-Thing enters the scene. It's been hours since he's taken care of that being called Monsoon. In his life, he knew that people who entered his swamp were either strayers or those with intentions both good and bad. Monsoon? He was somewhat all of those, but Sallis knew his bigger picture when he entered the swamp. As the Man-Thing lumbers through the swamp, a flash of light appears behind him. The Man-Thing is unsurprised, but the light certainly takes his attention. Turning his head, a woman appears. This woman is Jennifer Kale, an ally to the Nexus' Guardian and his closest confidant. Floating near Man-Thing, she tells him, "Seems like you're right. More's coming." Incapable of speech, Man-Thing responds in silence after turning towards her. Nevertheless, the telepathic bond between the two allows Jennifer to know what Sallis thinks. "Yeah, I know. It isn't your business, but you know they're never up to good, right?" The Man-Thing answers by grunting and heads off to another direction. Although so, Jennifer still speaks to him. "One of them's coming here, and he's the biggest fish you can fry." Man-Thing still walks away from Kale, until she mentions the man's name. "It's Armstrong." Man-Thing briefly stops, immobilizing himself. A brief silence represents Man-Thing telepathically speaking to her, and she shortly answers. "Armstrong's a menace, Sallis. You don't stop him, alright, the world outside will be the one to pay. But right now, he's going after you. He's stronger than you, he's tougher than you, and the moment he finds out of the Nexus, you know what he'll want." Man-Thing replies by turning to her and giving a deathly gaze with his red eyes. Kale understands and once again speaks. "Just be careful, Man-Thing. Senator's here only for vengeance, but believe me, he's so much of an aberration even Zhered-Na knows of the threat he poses." After he listened to Kale, finally he gestures her to leave. She complies, but not before giving him a good luck. As Kale disappears once again in a flash of light, Man-Thing suddenly descends to the swamp's murky waters, waiting for Armstrong to enter the Everglades. - "That should do it." Armstrong says while flexing. He's been re-energized by a giant machine that acts as a power source for Armstrong's nanomachines. Now ready to hunt some vegetables, Armstrong stands in front of the swamp's entrance with electricity surging through his body. Sundowner approaches Armstrong and comments. "Don't be scared, boss. Don't give a fuck about all those suspicions your speech writer had, Raiden cuttin' down your ass like steak, and..." Armstrong responds by pushing him away in annoyance. "This vegetable ain't getting nothing from me, boy. For now, you stand-by and keep all these bitches in line. Oh and please, stay away from the townfolks. I don't want people to screw up the polls." Sundowner nods in compliance and walks away with Mistral and the other cyborgs to a safe place. Armstrong proceeds to walk into the swamp, not knowing that the Man-Thing is expecting him. - Walking through the swamp, Armstrong walks hindered as the mud constantly sticks to his shoes. Armstrong doesn't mind, but he wants to get the job done ASAP. Armstrong looks around as he tries to find the Man-Thing. Unknown to him, a nearby plant actually generates an eye that observes Armstrong's movement. As the Senator moves, the eye focuses itself more and more into Armstrong. However, the moment Armstrong feels that he's watched, he turns to a patchwork of plants. The eye that saw him was no longer there. "I must be dreaming." Armstrong says. After he looked at the patch for a while, he decides to ignore it and continue his walk. The deeper he goes into the swamp, the stranger Armstrong feels. The swamp gives off a sort of uneasiness to Steven, but he's not entirely scared. But fear isn't one even superhumans can't shrug off, and Armstrong suddenly stops his tracks when he suddenly doubts himself. Stunned, Armstrong quickly returns to his senses, cursing himself out of confusion as he realizes that he somehow felt discomfort within his mind. And such discomfort isn't natural to him. "The fuck?" Armstrong's curse is followed up by the sound of water splashing at a distance. Turning to its direction, Armstrong shrinks his eyes and raises his glasses. Walking to the source, he finds nothing but idle lily pads. An annoyed Armstrong sighs in disappointment and anger. "Stupid swamp, playin' with my goddamn brain!" Pissed off, Armstrong storms away from the lily pad and delivers a splashing kick. He then proceeds to scream in anger, as he can't find this Man-Thing. "Where the fuckin' hell are you, you coward-ass shit!" Unbeknownst to Steven, the Man-Thing has been hiding underneath those lily pads and waits for the right time to ambush. With the nanomachine-infused warmonger being distracted, Man-Thing springs out of the lily pads with a huge roar, trying to smash him. However, the nanomachines' speed allows Armstrong to react just in time, smiling at the Man-Thing's appearance while turning fast enough to let him deliver a crushing punch to Man-Thing. Cancelling Man-Thing's ambush, the swamp monster is sent flying miles away. Sallis barely recovers as he struggles to get up on his feet. Truly, Kale was right: Armstrong's a tough one. Getting up from Armstrong's blow, Man-Thing sees that he's managed to remove a large portion of his chest with a single punch. "Ha! Think I'll go down as easy as Monsoon, Man-Thing?" Man-Thing simply gives him a glare, as his chest regenerates from the nearby plantation. Armstrong notices this and chuckles, seeing that this is a good day to beat up some plant monsters. "Frankly, I don't care much about him. But, I don't have anything to do for the next couple of hours, and you're just a nuisance to deal with; a pain in the ass. Still, you seem to be one of those ever-regeneratin' folks, and I'm a bored, superpowered man with no punching bags left at home. So, you know how this goes." Man-Thing responds by pounding the ground, roaring and getting ready for combat. Armstrong can do all but smile at him, cracking his knuckles. Man-Thing sets himself up to charge at Armstrong, and the Senator responds by slamming down his right leg like a sumo wrestler. It unleashes a large energy surge that encompasses most of the swamp. Man-Thing is unfazed, only enraged. In an instance, the Man-Thing charges to him, trying to shove him away. However, Armstrong responds at the same time with an even faster charge that the muck monster doesn't expect. Before Man-Thing can even reach him, Armstrong gets the first strike and headbutts him so hard it sends him flying yet again, now crashing a tree and breaking it in half. Man-Thing gets up and tries to counter him, but Armstrong suddenly lands on him with a smash and proceeds to beat his face repeatedly with his immense strength and speed. After three seconds of beating, Armstrong sees that he has reduced Man-Thing's face to a pulp. Nevertheless, he still takes pleasure in overwhelming him and lifts him up. He chokes the Man-Thing and dives his fist deep into the creature's chest. Armstrong smiles as he feels his arm penetrates Man-Thing's chest cavity. However, he doesn't know of the the Man-Thing's unpredictable nature. Still with a pulped-up face, Man-Thing turns to Armstrong and outright ignores how he penetrates his chest. Confusing Steven, Man-Thing finally gets a shot at the politician by crushing his head with both of his fists. Freeing himself, Man-Thing stunned Armstrong for a few precious seconds. While he's stunned, Man-Thing delivers an uppercut that sets him up in the air. Using his chlorokinesis, he summons a large vine from the ground that snatches Armstrong's body mid-air. In an instance, he commands the vine to slam him around like a ragdoll. It does so three times before throwing it at Man-Thing's feet. Man-Thing snatches him up, but Armstrong has already recovered from the Man-Thing's attack. Before the creature can do anything, Armstrong quickly heats up his arm and cuts off Man-Thing's right arm before kicking him away. Man-Thing tries to regenerate, but Armstrong steps up to him and delivers a devastating hook that hinders him. He continues by punching his stomach and a headbutt, stumbling him. Before Man-Thing can go off out of his range, Armstrong grabs his head with both of his hands, setting him up for a rising knee attack. Although the powerful blows of the Senator knock him back and all, it doesn't hinder his regeneration and Man-Thing quickly regrows damaged parts of his body. When the Senator grabs his shoulder to set up another string, Man-Thing slaps him away and quickly smashes him to the ground. Unfortunately, the Senator doesn't go down so easy as he holds off Man-Thing's smash with little effort. Man-Thing struggles to hold down the kneeling Steven, but he can only try as he sees the Senator laughing at his efforts. Slowly rising up, Man-Thing is surprised that he can't stop Armstrong's strength, but he doesn't lose hope. Finally, the two are seen holding each of their hands in a competition of strength. "Heh, I thought you'd be any tougher when I heard of you. Clearly, Mistral spoke too high of you. Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing? Bullshit! I have nothing to fear, moron! I know you tried to fuck with my mind, but by now, I guess you're the one who should be '''burning at my touch!" In an instance, Armstrong's hands once again heat up and melt Man-Thing's own hands. Afterwards, he lets out a shout accompanied by a fiery ground pound that engulfs the Man-Thing and the surrounding area. - In the aftermath of the explosion, Armstrong lost his shirt, exposing his manly muscles with black traces of nanomachines. Breathing in satisfaction, he gets up and looks around him. The resulting explosion decimated most of the trees and nearby plants. However, he sees no trace of the Man-Thing. Thinking that he's gone for real, he complains to himself. "Okay, that little bitch is nowhere. Now, what the hell am I supposed to..." Before Steven can finish his statement, he suddenly feels a wet hand grabbing his shoulder from behind. Surprised by this, Armstrong is left without a reaction as Man-Thing throws him away. Getting up, Armstrong looks at Man-Thing, seemingly unscathed by his generated explosion. He looks at Man-Thing again, only this time with no such confidence within his eyes. "Well, I didn't expect that..." Armstrong gazes into Man-Thing's red eyes with anger. Now, he's clearly annoyed by his presence and wants to get rid of him as quick as possible. "I'm still up for a second wind, you little punk. And don't even think for a second that I'm scared of ya! Bring it on!" Armstrong's taunt prompts Man-Thing to grunt, readying himself for the Senator's second strike. Jumping towards Man-Thing, he tries to punch him in the face but the Man-Thing steps back and entangles him with a large bundle of vines. Armstrong easily breaks himself out of the bundle, but Man-Thing bullrushes him and crashes him on a tree. Steven managed to punch him away but the Man-Thing, using his chlorokinesis, brings down the tree behind him on Armstrong. Luckily, Steven catches the tree right in time. Unluckily, Man-Thing's still out to pummel the hell out of the mechanical politician. While trying to throw the tree away, Man-Thing bashes him away a good distance away. He quickly grabs a hold of the tree with his superhuman strength and beats Steven up with the tree. After swinging it at him for thrice, knocking him down, Steven puts himself together and outright smacks the tree away from Man-Thing's grip by delivering a side punch to the tree itself. Man-Thing looks at the flying tree, not knowing how he could do that. Taking advantage of this, Armstrong jumps at him and brings him down the ground with an elbow strike. Still standing, Armstrong stomps on the Man-Thing's abdomen, but the creature stops him. He doesn't need his full strength to resist his stomp, he simply needs to make contact with it and push it away with all his strength. Knocking down Armstrong, Man-Thing gets up and with his speed, delivers a leaping smash at Steven. He then punches him thrice with his right hand before once again smashing him. Man-Thing gets back up from his assault but Steven, still not wanting to surrender, quickly gets up and does a surprise suplex, slamming the creature down. Seeing Man-Thing on the floor, Armstrong delivers a line, "Don't fuck with this SENATOR!" As a response to his curse, Man-Thing gets up with breakneck speed and tries to punch Armstrong away. However, the angry Armstrong has had enough of this and delivers a punch cranked up with heat right to his head. Seconds later, Man-Thing's head is seen falling to the murky swamp waters. After decapitating the swamp creature, Armstrong steps aside and lets the "corpse" stumble first without its head before collapsing. When the corpse's fall creates a splashing effect, the Senator looks at it while smiling. Seeing the surrounding area, he observes that everything's silent and believes that the Man-Thing is finally dead. "Celebrating", Armstrong pulls out a cigarette and lights it up, smoking. "That's what you get for fucking with me, you green bastard." Smoking after delivering a quote, Armstrong knows not of the next thing to come to him. His smoking is rudely interrupted when the reflection of a tree heading towards him is seen on his glasses. In an instance, a giant tree thrown by a figure hits Armstrong so hard it takes him on a flight through the swamp. His glasses broken, Armstrong cannot believe of what just happened. He gains his focus, and sees another surprise. "What the fuck?!" In a distance, Armstrong sees yet another Man-Thing with the same body type, but with no wounds of the previous one. Angered by this, Armstrong gets up and proceeds to heat up his limbs to finish him once again. "Why won't you stay fucking dead, you tree-lovin' whore?!" Armstrong's angry rant is surprisingly responded by the Man-Thing, who lifts up the corpse of his previous body and destroys it, absorbing its matter to his. He knows that he can regenerate, but not to this point. "Well then, was that all you got? I still ain't afraid of ya, and all you did was try and fuck me up with a bunch of trees!" Man-Thing, while silent, is actually amused by this and goes on to show off what else he can do. He immediately gathers the surrounding plants and generates something Armstrong can never expect: wings. Distracting him, Man-Thing immediately flies up and dive-bombs the Senator. After doing so, he punches the downed Steven. However, an explosive punch diverts the Man-Thing away. Armstrong gets up and continues his assault by rapidly unleashing a barrage of punches, but at a noticeably slower rate. His fists are also heated up during the assault, generating small explosions that constantly keep Man-Thing at bay. He finishes his combo by delivering an explosive thunderclap. The explosion's bigger than the previous ones, but it simply knocks him several meters away. Still up for some more punches, Armstrong unfortunately notices that his heated fists are beginning to cool down without his consent. Armstrong's nanomachines are losing power. Seeing his hands, he then notices Man-Thing conveniently getting up while regenerating holes on his body. Before Armstrong can do a thing, Man-Thing telepathically speaks to him, delivering an eery message. "Afraid now?" This angers Armstrong who tries to uppercut him. However, Man-Thing takes advantage of his losing power (and speed) by barely dodging it. Right after that, Man-Thing does no punches or kicks; he simply touches Armstrong's skin with his finger. Instantaneously, Armstrong's continued assault is halted when he feels a distinct heat coming from his arm. This heat then turns into pain and prompts Armstrong to groan in pain. Seeing the fire, he quickly puts it out and looks at Man-Thing. Man-Thing simply looks at him motionlessly, telepathically speaking to him again. "Now, you know fear." Turning his fear into rage, Armstrong once again tries to assault him by dropkicking Man-Thing who instead grabs both of his legs (setting them on fire). He slams him down hard with both hands before throwing him around four times with one hand, culminating with him spinning the Senator around and throwing him far away. After being thrown, Armstrong feels greatly weakened and the heat gets more intense as seconds pass by. On the ground, he sees Man-Thing slowly walking towards him. And for once in a lifetime after his infusion with the nanomachines, he feels something unexpected: fear. "No, this can't be... no! I... I don't feel fear! There's nothing I have to fear! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!" Armstrong says while trying to escape Sallis. Man-Thing simply walks towards the presidential-candidate, slowly reforming his arms into vines. When he tries to escape, a vine is summoned from the ground and grabs Steven's neck. He has felt fear, and the vine conjured by Man-Thing also delivers such touch, burning Steven's neck. This prompts Steven to scream out hysterically in pain and horror, as the Man-Thing is still not finished in doing his job. Man-Thing begins entangling his vines all around Steven's body, burning many of his body parts (except his head). Steven can torturously feel all his body, and even nanomachines slithering away from him as if they're melting. As he continues to scream and the Man-Thing's finished his job, Armstrong can only watch as the Man-Thing delivers his final blow. "NO! NO! NEVER! STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! STAY AWAY..." As he pleads for mercy while screaming, Man-Thing delivers the last words Armstrong will ever hear in his evil life. "Whoever knows fear... ...burns.... ...at the touch... ...of the '''MAN-THING!" As the message screams out in Steven's mind, both of Man-Thing's hands come to touch Steven's head, painfully burning him and all the nanomachines in it. As he continues to burn the entirety of the corrupt politician's body, Man-Thing looks on without concern. And when all that remains of Steven Armstrong is dust, the Man-Thing lets go of the vines and his grip on him. After letting go, he sees Armstrong's black dust for a moment. Feeling nothing, Man-Thing simply wanders off to the depths of the Everglades, returning to the Nexus of All Realities. Man-Thing, is victorious. '''WINNER: MAN-THING Category:Blog posts